Printer&#39;s furniture.



PRINTERS FURNITURE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.14, 1907.

i v vwenl'oz I J Jazz a 0mm JOHN C. URBANK, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

PRINTERS FURNITURE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application filed December 14, 1907. I Serial No. 406,535.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. URBANK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements in PrintersFurniture, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to printers furniture, the object of theinvention being to provide a longitudinally expansible piece of printersfurniture, the sections of which are so combined and related that thefurniture may be extended or contracted in length without varying thegeneral and maximum cross sectional dimensions thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide in connection with alongitudinally expansible furniture extension, means for locking thesections at any point of relative adjustment; also means for releasingthe same from such interlocked engagement to permit the furniture to becontracted in length.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construc' tion, combination and arrangement of parts herein fullydescribed, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1- is a perspective view of apiece of printers furniture embodying the present invention, showncontracted. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same, shownextended. Fig. 3is a longitudinal section through Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross sectionthrough the same. Fig. 5 is a detail View of the presser rod. Fig. 6 isa detail perspective view of the ratchet catch and its spring.

The printers furniture contem lated in this invention comprisesessentialy a plurality of sections 1 and 2 and each of said sections isof laminated construction or in other words, each section consists of aplurality of oblong plates or laminae 3 all of the laminae of eachsection being held at a suitable distance from each other by means ofinterposed s acing blocks or sections 4, at the outer end 0 eachsection, the s acing blocks or sections and the plates or laminae beingsecured together by fasteners which are shown for convenience in theform of screws. The plates or laminae on one section alternate with aslide between the plates or laminae of the adjoining section as clearlyshown in Fig. 2 and by thus providing the sections with sliding,interfitting and overlapping laminae, said sections may be slid towardor away from each other to give any desired length to the furniturewithout varying the general and maximum cross sectional dimensions ofthe same.

In order to provide for locking the sections 1 and 2 relatively to eachother when brought to the desired adjustment, one of the plates isprovided on one side with ratchet teeth 6 which extend transverselyacross the same while the adjoining and overlapping plate of the othersection is provided wit 1 an opening 7 in which is located a ratchetcatch 8 constituting in reality the movable section of said plate, saidcatch having ratchet teeth 9 which cooperate with the ratchet teeth 6above referred to. The catch 8 is provided with a socket 10 whichreceives the central bent portion or offset 11 of a two-armed spring 12.The opposite extremities of this spring bear against the adjacent plate,the tension of said spring being utilized to hold the catch 8 inengagement with the teeth 7 which prevents the sections 1 and 2 frombeing closed upon each other or moved from the extended position shownin Fig. 2 to the contracted position shown in Fig. 1.

In order to releasethe catch 8, I provide a presser rod 13 which extendsalong a groove 14 in one of the plates or laminae and at a suitablepoint is offset or provided with a. short crank 15 while the outerextremity thereof is rovided with an operating angle arm or small crank16 which works in recesses 17 in the end of one section. When the crankarm 16 is turnedto an arc of 90 the presser rod 13 acts to force thecatch 8 away from the teeth 6, thus permitting the sections to be pushedtogether or contracted as shown in Fig. 1. The catch 8 however, does notprevent the sections from being drawn outward.

One of the sections may, if desired, be graduated as shown at 18 to reresent inches and fractions thereof and suc graduations may be used inconnection with the extreme edge 19 of the overlying plate of the adjoining section to indicate when the furniture has been extended to thedesired length, the total length of the furniture being indicated by thegraduations 1 8 in line with the edge 19. The furniture will be foundespecially useful in locking up printing forms, and in blank book workespecially and will be a labor saving device for the general use ofprinters.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is

1. Printers furniture consisting of a body composed of sections slidablelengthwise relative to each other, ratchet teeth on one section, aratchet catch connected with the other section, and a crank rod forthrowing said catch out of engagement with the ratchet teeth.

2. Printers furniture consisting of a body composed of sections movablelengthwise relatively to each other, a spring catch carried by onesection and adapted to engage and hold the other section, and a crankrod adapted to throw said catch out of engagement, substantially asdescribed.

3. Printers furniture embodying overlapping and interfitting relativelyslidable sections each of which is made up of a series of long stripsand short spacing pieces therefor interposed between the end portions ofthe long strips, the long strips and short pieces of each section beingfastened together, and means for locking said members against relativemovement.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN C. URBANK. Witnesses FRANK C. GRIswoLD, MARY E. GRISWOLD.

